


a sigh-clone

by newct127



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: 5+1 Things, Astraphobia, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Not beta'd we die like men, Slice of Life, junnie hates storms and yangx2 knows him very well, xiaoyang are in love the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26309215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newct127/pseuds/newct127
Summary: as•tra•pho•bi•a  (as′trə fō′bē ə)n.an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning.Xiaojun finds himself spending a lot of time with Yangyang during a particularly stormy rainy season.
Relationships: Liu Yang Yang/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Comments: 19
Kudos: 131





	a sigh-clone

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this stuck in my head and my fic idea list for months and i decided to give it a go. i challenged myself to get it done in a day. this is the results of that challenge.

When Xiaojun was twelve there was a flash flood in his city. In just a few hours it rained more than it does during the entire rainy season. The amount of water along with the strong winds took dozens of lives and left the neighborhood damaged and without electricity for about a week.

He’s never been able to forget that storm, or the results of it. He remembers the absolutely horrendous sounds, the heavy droplets hitting the roof, the howling of the wind. He remembers how scary the lightning was, and how cold and wet the air felt. Ever since then Xiaojun has been afraid of storms. He’s fine with simple rain, but as soon as he hears thunder his heartbeat speeds up and he becomes frozen in fear.

He deals with it pretty easily these days. He’s working most of the time. They’re out of the country a lot too, usually avoiding the rainy season and typhoons. When that’s not the case, he’s still never alone. He has six roommates that aren’t affected by it at all, he leans on them for support, even though they don’t know it.

But they have their own lives and other friends and responsibilities that they need to get to. It’s not always that Xiaojun can rely on everyone’s company. Those moments are the worst.

* * *

The first time it happens it’s the middle of the night. Xiaojun gets woken up by the sound of thunder striking in the distance. It’s not too loud, but it is more than enough to get his attention. A minute later lightning strikes, the light echoing in Xiaojun’s room like a flash from a camera. The sound comes too quickly after, a deep and long grumble that makes the ground shake. He can’t remember the last time that he felt that kind of thunder, which makes it so much worse. Fuck this shit.

He jumps out of bed and heads out of the room.

He considers his options, but most of his options are asleep. Ten and Lucas are filming for SuperM, no one expects them back for at least a week. Sicheng and Hendery can sleep through anything, he isn’t surprised that the lights are off and he can’t hear anything from the inside. He can see dimmed light coming from the leader’s room, but that’s just how Kun sleeps. Dim light and noise-canceling headphones. Kun’s not an option. The only option seems to be Yangyang. The youngest’s lights are still on, which Xiaojun knows to be completely normal. Yangyang stays up later than the rest of them as he relaxes after a hard day’s work by doing God knows what. He knew that Yangyang would probably be who he ends up going to, knowing his habits.

Xiaojun knocks on Yangyang’s door, waits for an answer from the other side. It doesn’t come. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe Yangyang sleeps with his lights on. Maybe he has headphones on. Xiaojun almost gives up and goes back to his room, but Yangyang cracks open the door.

“What’s up?” Yangyang whispers the question.

Xiaojun doesn’t exactly want to say.

“Do you want to hang out?”

“Now?”

Thunder goes off in that moment, much closer it feels as the rumbling of the sound makes the ground shake much more than the previous one.

“Yeah, right now.”

“Okay. Come on,” he agrees, taking a step back to let him in.

Yangyang’s watching anime, his laptop set on the foot of the bed and he’s lying on his stomach in front of it. He suggests that Xiaojun joins him on the bed and they finish the movie together.

Xiaojun’s more than happy to oblige. They lay next to each other, limbs touching so they share the heat and stare at the screen. Xiaojun relaxes, focuses on the images on the laptop and on Yangyang’s voice as he explains details so he’s caught up with the story. Time flies, the storm dies down and turns into nothing more than heavy rain, and before he knows it Xiaojun forgets what he was afraid of in the first place.

* * *

The second time Xiaojun leans on Yangyang for support because of a storm is a few days later. It’s that kind of a period for the weather, it starts with really sunny days and ends with the type of wet, cold weather that you feel in your bones. The curse of early summer.

It’s late afternoon and there’s absolutely no one else in the dorms. The animals are of no help. They hate the noises as much as Xiaojun does, but it’s slightly easier for them, the three of them hiding together under Kun’s bed, their usual spot.

He doesn’t know exactly what to do this time. There’s no one to turn to. What is he going to do? Text the group chat asking for someone to come back cause there’s a little storm and he’s afraid? He won’t hear the end of it.

Lucky for him is that the door of his room opens right then and an out-of-breath Yangyang enters the scene.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“I brought take-out. Let’s eat.”

Xiaojun nods, then follows Yangyang to the living room. The food is still in the bags, droplets of water speckling the thin plastic. It’s only then that Xiaojun notices that Yangyang’s wet too. The shoulders of his shirt and his hair are soaked. The hem of his shorts and his calves are covered with black circles, as if he ran through muddy puddles on his way home. Did he?

“You should change and dry off. I’ll set the table,” Xiaojun offers, figuring he’ll be able to pull that off now that he knows he’s not alone in the dorms. 

“Right,” Yangyang nods, “I’ll be right back.”

He is gone for about a minute which only gives Xiaojun enough time to grab a couple of plates and some utensils. Yangyang returns with fresh clothes and a towel draped over his wet hair.

They sit on the couch, and Yangyang talks about his day and the video games he ordered online and he can’t wait to show him, purposefully raising his tone whenever it thunders to drown out the sound. Yangyang knows, he realizes, but Xiaojun doesn’t mind it because he once again thinks about everything beside the weather.

* * *

The weather persons on TV once again warn of high probability of a storm for the late afternoon. The TV is on in the living room as they’re having breakfast, adding to the white noise that makes every meal with his friends. Xiaojun makes a mental note, adding it to the sections of things to remember later.

They’re in the car ride home after recording when the sun almost disappears from the sky and Xiaojun remembers what was on the forecast. It must be in his facial expression because moments later Yangyang gives him an answer to his question of what he should do during the storm and with who.

“Dejun-ge, those video games I ordered arrived. Would you like to play when we get home?”

Yes, he absolutely would.

Yangyang shares his laptop while he installs the game on Xiaojun’s. He gives him a pair of noise-canceling headphones, gestures a few times towards the really soft blanket that he owns, and they spend a few hours in front of the computers.

There is a storm, he only knows because everyone else complains about it. Xiaojun barely notices.

The storm doesn’t affect him as much when he’s with Yangyang.

* * *

Yangyang does the cutest thing anyone has ever done for him when he drags Xiaojun and Sicheng to the theater so they can watch a really long action movie and somehow times it perfectly.

When they leave the dorms the sky is clear, but by the time they arrive in front of the mall there are gray clouds speckled all over it.

The movie lasts some two and a half hours, and with how rarely they get to do normal people things these days, Xiaojun gets so immersed. He pays attention to the special effects, the sounds, to the story and the acting. He can tell that Yangyang is looking at him from time to time, but he can’t look away from the screen.

By the time they leave the movie theater and then the mall, the storm has passed. It’s not raining anymore either. But the streets are unmistakably wet.

He understands. But he can’t bring himself to say anything cause he doesn’t want to ruin it.

He doesn’t want to read into things either.

* * *

The worst storm of the season is one that comes with a yellow warning of strong winds. Xiaojun knows because he checks for the forecast online, and seeing the yellow banner on the top of the site makes his stomach turn.

He isn’t too scared though. Everyone is home that day, resting after a very long week of comeback preparations. He doesn’t have a reason to take it too seriously. There are enough people there, someone has to be doing some activity that he could join in and will be enough to distract him.

Kun insists on a game night, forces everyone to the living room and places a stack of board games on the coffee table. Xiaojun isn’t sure which game they settle on because he gets distracted by Yangyang’s presence, always close by, as if he’s revolving around Xiaojun.

Just because he decided he shouldn’t read into it, doesn’t mean he actually left it at that. He read into it, wondering if it’s not just him, then what.

The evening only gives him more incentive to over-think. As soon as the storm starts Yangyang’s sitting on the floor next to him. Mere minutes after the sound of the first thunder cracks above their heads the power goes out. And when the power goes out, Yangyang’s hand makes its way towards Xiaojun’s, intertwining his fingers around the older’s, making it impossible for him to deal with the feelings, or let go of the thoughts the gesture inspires in him.

On the bright side, Xiaojun’s focused on whatever’s going on between him and Yangyang to the point where he completely forgets about the storm and the power outage.

* * *

The thing is that Xiaojun has always had some sort of feelings for Yangyang. He’s just been suppressing them for so long that not allowing them to develop is the only thing he knows how to do.

It gets hard though, suppressing them for long periods of time is more and more difficult over time, so Xiaojun realizes he can’t rely on Yangyang to keep him distracted during storms anymore. When he does that his feelings only get stronger and muddier. He imagines unrequited love is much scarier than a storm.

That’s why the next time a storm comes, Xiaojun stays in his room. He reminds himself of where he is, he reminds himself that he’s safe. He turns all the lights on, covers himself with his duvet over his head, hugs a pillow, and he decides to wait it out. He’s a grown man, he can do it.

Except he can’t. It’s the loudest storm this rainy season and he’s coping horribly with it. It’s at the peak of his fright that there is a knock on his door. Whoever it is, they don’t wait for him to answer before they open the door.

“Dejun?” He hears that it’s Yangyang, but he is so physically frozen that he can’t reply. Yangyang’s in his room now, he can tell when the door closes and he can still hear footsteps inside. The sound of thunder echoes over the city as Yangyang moves the duvet a bit, letting cold air enter Xiaojun’s not-safe-enough space as he takes a peak underneath. “Scoot over,” he then tells him.

Xiaojun’s body responds before he can think about it. He moves and Yangyang gets under the covers with him, quickly wrapping his arms around him. Xiaojun reciprocates the action, finding peace in Yangyang’s warmth.

They’re lying with their faces dangerously close, Yangyang’s eyes examining every corner of his expression.

“Thank you,” he manages then.

“Don’t be silly. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing,” Yangyang says to him, a hint of a smirk painting his lips.

“Than calming me down?”

“Than holding you.”

Oh.

“There’s nothing I’d rather be doing either,” he admits. Yangyang’s smile grows wide and he pulls him closer in response.

* * *

They stay like that even after the storm passes.

They assume similar positions during future storms too, at least whenever there is an opportunity.

Yangyang’s love turns out to be the cure for Xiaojun’s thunder induced anxiety.

**Author's Note:**

> what do you call a sad storm?  
> a sigh-clone
> 
> come for a chat:  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/newct127)  
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/newct127)


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